“Youput a hit out on me,” I reminded him, “so forgive my doubt.”
“You are everything I dreamed you would be and more.”
Those horrible black feet approached until he stood before me, almost in touching distance, not that he was in any danger of me bridging that gap. I could smell him now. Bonfires. Metal. And beneath that, his scent carried an undercurrent of ozone and cold earth. “Words every daughter wants to hear.”
A subtle vibration moved through the floor, but he didn’t acknowledge the disturbance.
“My greatest creation.”
Even for a parent, that sounded weird. But, as the creator of mankind, I got a clearer picture of what Dis Pater meant whenhe called me an experiment in the conversation I eavesdropped on between them at his house. “And what purpose did you have in mind for your creation?”
“You are to unlock untold powers and allow us to bask in the former glory of our pinnacle.”
There was alotto unpack there, but I got hung up on one word.“Us?”
“You are my child by blood, but others contributed to your conception. A creation such as yourself is too glorious to be born of a single collision between egg and sperm.” He overlooked my outward cringing at his phrasing. “They have a vested interest in you and your future. As long as you continue to perform as expected, you will be cared for. Cherished. You will want for nothing.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Willful disobedience will produce the same end result as the discovery of any other defect.”
That sounded a whole lot like if I didn’t play along, I would become a terminated experiment.
“Gotcha.” I cozied up to Anunit, taking comfort from her presence, grateful for her extra solidity while in Abaddon. “Mind clarifying the bit about performance expectations?”
I had always known I was odd, that my powers didn’t work right. I wasn’t necromancer enough for the Society of Post-Life Management to recruit me, which had landed me in hot water with their sentinels more than once. Even before Lyle set me up to take the fall with them. They may not have wanted me, but they also didn’t want me earning a living doing what came naturally to me. Given myverylimited experience with peer reviews, mostly with negative results, and zero experience with measuring up to parental expectations, I was a smidge nervous about his definition ofdefect.
“You are the embodiment of my aspirations,” he assured me. “Truly magnificent.”
Since I wasn’t about to point out I had felt like a fish out of water all my life when he was so proud of the person I had become, I tread carefully when I asked, “What were these aspirations?”
Another shake rattled the floor, and this time, Ithas lowered his brows in confirmation he felt it too.
“Your consort has come for you,” Anunit said softly.
Too bad I had no way of knowing if rescue or murder was on his mind.
“Consort?” Ithas returned his attention to me. “I should have known Dis Pater would fail in his attempts to quell your connection. He is a fool who has grown impatient. Creation requires time, and perfection is never achieved on the first or even second attempt. I have invested centuries on this design. Countless lives and resources have been spent to achieve you, and I will not rush through to completion. Not when I am closer than I have ever been to the fruition of my labors.”
Oh, yeah. This guy was out of his ever-loving mind. A total mad scientist.
God, the irony of choosing the nickname Frankie when I had been Frankenstein’s monster all along.
Those implications were too vast and painful to contemplate, so I zeroed in on a more immediate topic. “What connection do I have to Kierce?”
There was one. I was sure of it. Growing more certain by the minute.
“None of importance, and one that will soon become irrelevant.”
A cold stone dropped into my gut. “Leave him out of this.”
Laughter spilled from his lips in a black wisp of smoke, as if he were so amused he couldn’t hold on to his form. “That is quiteimpossible, as he was the inspiration for this experiment.” His dark eyes fastened on me. “You were not made for him, if that is what concerns you. You were madebecauseof him.”
“Kierce is ancient.” I didn’t mean the title of Viduus, I meant the man. “How is that possible?”
“You are not the first of your kind. You are simply the latest, and most promising, iteration.”
Ithas held out his hand, and a gleaming bone, maybe three or four feet in length, materialized across his palm. I was no expert on swords. Other than the fact that one end was pointy, I didn’t know much about them. I had, however, watched enough K-dramas to decide he held a Hwando-style blade.
